Archive for child welfare

Slightly better than giving you Fvx at this hour, Morning Schmoe is semi-back from break, and Scarborough is all about kicking some PBO hiney about the humanitarian crisis at the Border. Governor Good Hair Rick Perry's stretch o' the fence.

We have all said or thought this a gazilion times about some of the asshats he has to interact with, but "Poor President Obama."

This time it's a Hairy Perry bully demand, not a respectful request for a presidential visit from a sitting governor. Perry has puffed out his Texas chest and bellowed that he wouldn't be doing any handshake on the tarmac with Barack Obama.

This comes on the egregious heels of Perry's Tin Foil Hat PBO latest … Obama himself is behind the humanitarian crisis at the Border. [Perry may be even less in touch with reality than we currently suppose.]

So, according to MSNBC sourcing, the president and the guv'nah will be meeting behind closed doors … and we so wanted a 'shake your fist in Obama's face' photo op, blast. Which fired Ole' One Way Joe, have a gawk for yourself and I'll see you with shared frustration on the other side.

The smug is getting worse as Obama gets closer to the clean exit, it's like Regressive Right blood in the water.

Perry and his glasses may not be running again (Hah!) in 2016, but as Rachel Maddow illustrated Monday night, he has some culpability in this Border Crisis.

President Obama does head out to Texas today, for two days of fundraising and with no advance-noticed plans to visit the border … which some have blown up into a faux Fvx Hair Aflame Scandale, and some conservative hate baiter editorialized this - ahead of time - "Obama's Katrina Moment."

Horse shite.

President Obama isn't a showman. He's not going to announce ahead of time that he is going to go down to the borders and see what is happening to the women and children, primarily, caught in this tragic cycle of entry, detention and legal action.

There are not many good options. The president visited the border from Texas in 2011, and though no official plans have been put forward for Obama to re-route there in the next couple of days, liberals can easily seeing him doing that.

Without the hype and Regressive Right sportscasting. For a sane look at the immigration crisis, Lawrence O'Donnell had a factual look.

What a sad, messed up story. Christian is 13, 12 when he was arrested and he has spent almost two years in a juvenile facility waiting for a trial.

Nothing about Cristian’s life has been easy. He was born to a mother who was just 12 when she had him. She became pregnant at the age of 11 after being sexually assaulted by Cristian’s biological father. The father was imprisoned on charges directly related to her pregnancy and would later be described as having little to do with his son.

At the age of two, Cristian and his mother were placed in the same foster home after the “authorities found the toddler walking around dirty and naked outside a South Florida motel while his grandmother, who would have been about 34 at the time, nursed a drug habit inside.”

At just three years old there were indicators that Cristian had experienced more than just neglect. Department of Child and Family Services reported that Cristian, still only three, pulled down the pants of a six year old and simulated a sex act. No information was provided about where the three year old learned this behavior, but further information indicated that days prior to that he had caused the death of a kitten after it scratched him in the face. Though these behaviors strongly suggested that Cristian had experienced other types of abuse, nothing appeared to have been done about it.

Further indicators of sexual abuse were present when Cristian was five years old. It was alleged that he was found naked under a bed with his younger brother. The same year, it was also reported that Cristian was masterbating at school, drawing phallic symbols, and trying to pull down the pants of other children. Mental health evaluations were ordered by the court, but none of the records maintained by the Department of Children and Family Services stated they had taken place or that Cristian was provided with therapeutic treatment for the behaviors. Minimally, a more complete investigation into potential sexual abuse of Cristian should have been conducted.

You can read at the link what happened to him (that they know of) between 5 and 11. Sigh. It's what next that really gets my goat.

A few months later on March 14, 2011, deputies were called to the apartment: Fernandez' baby brother, 2-year-old David, had died at a local hospital. The medical examiner determined that the toddler had a fractured skull, bruising to his left eye and a bleeding brain.
Susana, then 25, admitted to investigators that she had left Fernandez, David and her other children home alone. When she returned, she said she found David unconscious. She waited eight-and-a-half hours before taking him to the hospital and searched "unconsciousness" online and texted friends during that time.

Susana also revealed that two weeks before David's death, Fernandez had broken the toddler's leg while wrestling.

Susana was charged with aggravated manslaughter; the medical examiner said David might have survived if she had taken him to the hospital sooner for the head injury. She pleaded guilty in March and could get 30 years.

Fernandez, who had first been questioned as a witness, was soon charged with first-degree murder. The other felony charge was filed after his 5-year-old half-brother told a psychiatrist that Fernandez had sexually assaulted him.

Christian is actually on the better side of our messed up juvenile justice system. He got a "reprieve".

Jacksonville, FL – Friday, February 8, 2013 -- This morning the state of Florida agreed to greatly reduced charges in the case of Cristian Fernandez. Two years ago, the state had charged then-12-year-old Cristian as an adult for the death of his younger brother. The child was facing a mandatory minimum of life in prison without parole in the death of his 2-year-old half brother, David Galarraga.

As a friend of mine said, "Even though this kid was able to get a plea deal and only serve in a juvenile facility until he is 19, we as a country put kids this young for life without parole...just us and Somalia. Great company to be in!"

Alert the media, but don't let the AFA get a wind of this. You know they'll crank out a dozen fakety "reports" that say the opposite in a heartbeat.

STANFORD, Calif., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Researchers using U.S. Census Bureau data say they found children of same-sex parents do nearly as well in school as children in heterosexual households.

Stanford University sociologist Michael Rosenfeld used census data from 2000 and found nearly 7 percent of children raised by heterosexual married couples were held back a grade and about 9.5 percent of children living with same-sex partners repeated a grade.

However, the difference between the two groups of parents disappears after factoring in that the heterosexual couples were slightly more educated and wealthier than most gay parents, Rosenfeld says.
"One of the fundamental issues in modern family law that differs from state to state is whether same-sex couples can adopt," Rosenfeld says in a statement. "My research makes clear that there's a huge advantage to kids to be out of the care of the state and into the care of any family, even if the family is not perfectly optimal."